1. Field
This disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for processing ray tracing that are capable of performing a ray-box intersection test during traversal of a space division acceleration structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Three-dimensional (3D) rendering is an image processing process for synthesizing data of a 3D object into an image that may be seen at a given viewpoint of a camera.
Rasterization and ray tracing are two representative rendering approaches. In rasterization, an image is generated by projecting a 3D object onto a screen. Ray tracing is a technique for generating an image by tracing a path of light incident along a ray that is emitted from a viewpoint of a camera toward each pixel of an image.
Ray tracing is capable of producing a high quality image by simulating physical properties of light such as reflection, refraction, transmission, etc. However, since this technique requires a significant amount of calculation, it is difficult to perform high-speed rendering.
Ray tracing includes traversal of an acceleration structure and a ray-primitive intersection test. In this case, the traversal and the intersection test require a large amount of computation and a high bandwidth.